Le Petit Homme Vert
by Acanthusss
Summary: When the Little Prince returns to planet Earth, he is once more in the desert-- but it is not the desert he is familiar with. In his wandering, he meets two astronomers, Kent Clark and Ellie Arroway. Sagan's "Contact" & St-Exupéry's "The Little Prince."


Title: ""Le Petit Homme Vert"

Author: Abby Nowakowski FF.N user ID 381294

Rating: G

Disclaimer: This is a cross-over fanfiction, based upon the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Robert Zemeckis' film "Contact," which is adapted from Carl Sagan's novel of the same name. The characters are property of their respective authors; No profit is being made from this story.

Summary: When the Little Prince returns to planet Earth, he finds himself in the desert once again-- but it is not the desert he is familiar with. In the course of his wandering, he meets two astronomers, Doctors Kent Clark and Ellie Arroway.

Author's Notes: This fanfiction is based in the world of the film "Contact." I am familiar with the novel, and there are a few details from it included, but the movie still remains my favorite- particularly because of the character Dr. Kent Clark, whom I adore, and is subsequently present in this story. The narration takes place within the span of the 4 years after Ellie and her team move to the VLA, before the reception of The Message. My interpretation of the Little Prince is based upon the original novel, and of the French musical adaptation by Richard Cocciante. Quotes from both fictions are scattered throughout.

Dedication: For Drew, a wonderful friend and fellow writer, without whom my enthusiasm for writing would hardly be what it is today, and who also puts up with the most extreme of my fangirling.

* * *

Chapter 1

Le Petit Homme Vert

(The Little Green Man)

"_The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, _

_that he laughed, and he was looking for a sheep…" _

Antoine de-Saint Exupéry

_The Little Prince _(1943)

The Plains of San Agustin and the Sahara are geographic features unique in the world, as is every place, if one looks close enough. But to an unfamiliar traveler, they might be compared, as both are expanses of dry and arid land. This is the reason that the little prince, whom had once visited the great African desert, came to the American Southwest.

The little prince hailed from Asteroid B-612, a very small planet, perhaps no bigger than a house. Three miniature volcanoes were the only significant landmarks- two active and one extinct (though with volcanoes, one never knows). Therefore it is quite understandable that he found himself misplaced upon the planet Earth…

2

Doctor Kent Clark walked slowly over the desert plain, trailing his cane idly over the sand in front of him, meeting not an obstacle. It was another day of blazing sun, accompanied by the slightest of breezes. A brimmed hat covered Kent's head and shadowed his nose, its lariat tied loosely under his chin.

The VLA stood behind him, with its flock of twenty-seven radio telescopes inclined to the stars. In between sitting in the facility, going over scores of data charts with recordings of the stellar noise playing in the background, Kent would often venture outside alone. Without anyone else's shepherding arm he could wander, and enjoy the quiet.

At no particular spot, Kent stopped to sit upon the ground. Idly, he picked up a stone to turn over in his hands. He had understood that he was solitary, until-

"If you please," a small, clear voice suddenly met Kent's ears. "Could you tell me where I am?"

Kent turned his head quick to the direction of the speaker, who sounded very young. "We're at the Very Large Array- in Socorro, New Mexico." He raised his chin. "Who are you?"

"I am looking for a friend," the voice replied- the voice of a child, a boy. "I have been to this place once before, but it is not quite as I remember." He sighed.

Kent got to his feet, kneeling first to reach for his cane, sand gritting under his nails as he picked it up. "I'm Kent, an astronomer here."

"Ah, an astronomer!" he repeated excitedly. "Then you can surely help me! I am looking for a friend I met the last time I came here," he said again. "This is my second time coming to Earth."

A small, amused smile pulled at the corners of Kent's lips. "You're from another planet?"

"Yes," the boy answered. "You should know it- It was called Asteroid B-612 by a Turkish astronomer."

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that one off the top of my head," Kent chuckled. This little person was very remarkable- perhaps an enthusiastic child that had escaped the hand of a teacher or parent at the visitor's center.

"When a sunset comes, I will point it out to you."

"I'm sure it's a beautiful planet," he replied quietly.

"It's really very small. But it is my planet."

It was quiet for a moment between them, until concern prompted Kent to ask, "You're here on your own?"

"This morning I arrived, at the foot of those mountains over there, and from there I walked here. You are the first person I have met. Why are you in the desert?"

"I live and work here," Kent replied, "with other astronomers."

"Ah, the last time it was a little lonely in the desert. You aren't lonely, then?"

"No," Kent smiled. "I'm not lonely. It can be very quiet around here, though we have plenty of stars to listen to."

"You listen to stars?"

"Yes, stars aren't just for gazing. They do have light and color, but also shape, and sound. Different parts of space can be heard on radio waves, with radio telescopes."

"That is very curious! Finding stars with your ears. But seeing without your eyes is the best way to go about sometimes," he murmured.

Kent held his walking cane close to his chest. After a moment, he held out his other arm. "Why don't you take my hand, and we'll walk to the station together. There you can listen to a star yourself."

Eagerly, a small hand grasped Kent's open palm. "I would very much like to hear a star." As the two walked along the towering telescopes, the boy added, "I wonder, might they sound like wells with squeaky pulleys?"

3

Ellie Arroway, director of Project Argus, was sitting at one of the computers in the control room, listening to one out of hundreds of channels of the radio telescopes. Through her headphones, an echoing static filled her ears. In this audible chaos she searched for patterns, which might bear some sign of life amongst the stars other than their own. Numerous computers shared the room with her, and they did most of the signal analysis. But Ellie felt offering her human ears to the process made it more real, and it gave her a sense of utility.

The woman scrolled through the data collection of previous hours, her eyes going over charts filled with peaks and troughs of various wavelengths. An idle glance out to the window had her pause to sit up and smile; she could see Kent walking through the great round shadow of one of the telescopes. Ellie took off her headphones and made her way down downstairs to meet him.

She pushed open the door and sighed into the heat. The sun off the sand made her squint, but when she saw Kent her eyebrows knitted together- for holding his hand was a child, all dressed in green, save for an orange scarf that hung open over his shoulders. When they were near, the boy looked up at Ellie, patience and curiosity defining gentle features.

"Hello!" he said.

"Hello," Ellie replied. She stepped over and took her fellow astronomer's arm. "Who's this, Kent?"

"There is a child holding my hand, isn't there?" he leaned in to her, whispering. "Yeah," Ellie chuckled.

"He says he's from Asteroid B-612."

"Ah," Ellie hummed. She smiled at the child, "Well, welcome to the VLA! I'm Ellie. Would you like to come inside?"

"Yes, I would," he replied with a nod.

Ellie held the door open, and the boy let go of Kent's hand, making his own way in. "Are you here all by yourself?"

"I am." His head turned about as he walked, observing the stray chairs stacked in a corner, the tower of computer servers channeling clusters of cords, the posters, photographs, and framed documents hanging on the walls.

"He came up to me out on the plain," Kent said. "He's looking for a friend, but may be lost." He lowered his voice, "Were there any school groups or other visitors by?"

"No, not one," Ellie replied. She beckoned the boy to continue up the stairs to the control room, and through the double doors the trio proceeded. Kent took off his hat and hung it and his cane on the coat stand against the wall.

The boy stood at the control room's center, turning his head about. "All these machines, are they what you listen to stars with?"

"That's right," Ellie said. "All the telescopes outside, the dishes are catching radio waves that come from the stars and other parts of space, and these computers record them."

"But the stars aren't out right now." He pointed out to the cloudless blue sky.

Ellie explained, "We can't see them, because the sun's light is so much brighter and it takes over the sky. But star stuff makes just as much noise at any time of day. As long as it's above our horizon, we can listen to it."

"I wonder if we could hear B-612. Though it is quiet, there's not much on it to make much noise."

"So you're from another planet, huh?" Ellie bent over, her hands on her knees, so she could meet his shining green eyes with hers of bright blue.

"Yes I am." The boy spoke so clearly, so plainly; Ellie's brow furrowed at this child's conviction.

"I am the little prince, and my planet is a small one," he told her. "I have three volcanoes, though they don't even come up to my knees. Two are active and one is extinct. Though with volcanoes, one never knows…"

The little prince, Ellie pondered. The child certainly carried himself with enough confidence for regality. She sighed through her nose and pursed her lips, puzzled.

"Why did you leave your planet?" Kent prompted.

"Do you know what 'ephemeral' means?" asked the little prince in reply.

"Yeah, it means 'temporary,'" said Ellie. "Why?"

It was the little prince's turn to give a sigh, though his sounded melancholic. When he spoke, there was an edge of bitterness to it. "I once met a geographer, and he asked me to describe my planet. I told him of my volcanoes, and then of my flower. But he did not record my flower, for he said she was ephemeral- 'that which is in danger of speedy disappearance.' He did not record her in his big book, even though she was the most beautiful thing on my planet." The little prince looked away from Ellie and Kent, standing beside each other. "But he was right. She was ephemeral…"

4

The little prince long cared for a singular rose on his planet, beautiful and proud as she was. He watered her, minded her screen and glass globe, so she would not suffer any drafts. But after some time, she was not so capricious, and more weary. She normally had always been the first to speak, but then the prince was the one starting conversations, asking questions. Her petals began to fall, and her leaves she let hang on her stem.

Every hour the prince had knelt by her side, trying to help her health, but she did not speak any fickle words about his attention. "Oh, just let me be carried away by the breeze. Then I might travel to other stars as you have," she respired.

And when she did lie down upon the earth, her gardener laid beside her in great sorrow, and watered the ground with his tears. He picked her up in his hands to grant her wish of passing away into the stellar wind. After this many a sunset passed, and he watched them all.

The little prince was then not completely alone, for a small sheep, which had been drawn up for him by the aviator, a friend made upon his last trip to Earth, shared the planet. The animal was content with grazing on tufts of grass and baobab sprouts, and sleeping in its box. Petting its coarse wool, the little prince was reminded of the aviator, and had the thought to see him again.

The first time the prince had left his planet, it was because his rose had caused him grief with her vanity. This next journey was also because of the rose, but the grief was caused by her absence.

So the little prince said goodbye to his sheep, and just has he did the last voyage, made his way through space by a flock of obliging migratory birds. He hailed them down when they passed overhead.

"Where is it that you want to go?" one chirped.

"To the planet Earth," the little prince replied.

And the fliers bore him through space at an exhilarating speed. The little prince's orange scarf streamed like a banner behind him as they left the familiar neighborhood of petite planets to approach the large worlds.

They banked past rust and copper-colored Mars, before Earth, as a blue, green and russet crescent gleaming against the black, came into view. Soaring nearer, the whole sphere of Earth could be distinguished, and nearer, the land and sea. The planet's half that was blanketed in night still hummed and blinked with signs of human habitation. Coasts were outlined by lights, swaths of brightness were cities. Borders were indistinguishable.

The little prince's mind was turned to the lamplighter he had once met on a rapidly turning planet. The man lit and extinguished a single lantern in the span of moments, always loyal. At the latitude of the sun's setting, the movements of Earth's own army of lamplighters could be seen, fading into the twilight. It was a splendid spectacle.

At a slighter distance, continuing into the daytime, half of the sky was filled by the world, and a relentless and exquisite band of blue arced over it. The prince's heart swelled at its beauty; so glad was he to see this planet again.

"What part of Earth?" cawed the birds.

"To the desert! A place altogether dry and pointed!"

Down through clouds the flock went. A cool dampness clung to the prince's skin, in the open air the sun kissed it away. Over the ocean, they raced waves into the continental shore, which turned into blue-ridged mountains. Mountains gave way to rolling hills of green that settled into golden fields, veined with rivers. Plains surged upwards into more mountains, these far more dry and pointed. After their summits, they sloped down into desert. The birds followed the land's elevation, and the little prince came to land upon arid earth once again.

5

When the little prince was done with his story, Ellie sat back and said, "You have quite the imagination, little man."

The boy stared at the woman, thunderstruck. His little blonde eyebrows came together, and his lips pursed. "This is not an imagination, this is true! How could I make such a story about my rose? Don't you understand how important this matter is? It is true that there are many other roses, but she was unique in the world, because she was my rose!"

And then he began to cry and put his back to the woman and man. The adults were at a loss of how to comfort him. It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

"I'm sorry little prince," Ellie started. "We usually don't have visitors from other planets…" She tried to smile, but her perplexity only drew a frown. "I just don't know…"

Kent took a step forward. "Little prince?" he nearly whispered. "You've traveled a long way, and must be very tired."

Without turning his head, the prince nodded, wiping a hand under his eyes. Wordlessly, he allowed himself to be led to a worn sofa, in the small lounge down the hall from control. He laid down; Ellie tucked him in with her Indian blanket, and he was soon asleep.

Kent waited in the doorway for Ellie. "Do you believe him?" she asked quietly.

"I believe that he loved a flower," Kent admitted, "And that he is a long way from the place he calls home."

Ellie looked over her shoulder to the little prince, whom could be compared to any other sleeping human child. She worried that his planet was actually Earth, and while he cared for a garden, someone else cared for him. But he spoke of no one else, just of his own responsibilities. Could he really be the small prince of another world? Ellie sighed, and turned off the lights.

6

It was mid-afternoon when the little prince woke again. He was stirred from his sleep by the wet nose of a dog on his face. Sitting up with pleasant surprise, he laughed and held the animal's offered paw. "Hello!" he greeted, petting golden fur.

"This is Calcan, my dog," Kent announced.

The little prince looked up to the astronomer, smiling again. "He is very pretty. Might I play with him? Is he tamed?"

"Oh yes, quite tame. Cal helps me out a lot."

Ellie entered the room then, very happy to see the brightness return to the boy's face. "We were just about to go out for a walk together," she said. "Would you come with us, kiddo?"

"Yes," he replied, hopping up from the sofa, and he lead the way out the door with Calcan trotting at his side.

Beyond the telescopes and any landmark of the VLA facility they went, hiking across the desert soil. Kent and Ellie held each other's hand, with the little prince and Calcan in front of them.

"I met a fox the last time I was on Earth, but he was not tame, and would not play with me at first," the little prince said. "But after some time, we understood and tamed each other-- we established ties." He looked over his shoulder at the grown-ups. "Have you tamed each other?"

"We've known each other for a couple years now," Ellie responded. "We certainly have ties."

"That is good. I have heard it can be lonely among men, and they have no patience for friendship. Ties are neglected, and then men feel cut off and alone. But they are not. It would do them good to remember each other in all of space."

The prince stopped walking then, for a magnificent canyon was before them, carved into and across the land. "Oh," he breathed. "If my geographer saw this, he would have great want to become an explorer!"

"This is one of my very favorite places," Ellie confessed. "I come out here a lot, just to look, to think."

The two astronomers sat down near the rim, and Calcan placed his head on Kent's knee. The little prince stood a while longer, before kneeling. He still leaned to look at all the rock fissures and spires, the layers and colors of stone.

"This is not ephemeral," the little prince declared.

Ellie leaned back on her hands. "Guess how old Earth is, little prince."

"Many more days than my own little planet, I think."

"Our planet is about four and half billion years old. Now, what do you think about the entire universe?"

"It would be older still."

"That's right," Ellie smiled. "It's not for certain, but the universe is estimated to be around fourteen billion years old. And it's still expanding, time and space going on and on and on."

"Compared to the universe, we're all pretty ephemeral," Kent said. "Held up to it, our own lives are less than a blink of an eye. But to each other, we're as enduring as this canyon."

The little prince trailed his hands over the ground as he listened. He scooped sand into his palms, and then let it run through his fingers, shimmering in the sun. "To me, my rose was not ephemeral. She was my rose, and she was lasting. And she will always be in my heart."

"And that's all that matters."

7

A late lunch was shared between Kent, Ellie, and their visitor when they returned from their walk. Together they ate sandwiches at the old ping-pong table which served as the eating surface in the lounge. The little prince helped make the food and clean up, but afterwards he disappeared to wander the building, which now had Kent looking for him, while Ellie made to respond to messages left on her phone earlier in the day.

"Little prince?" the man called as he walked through the hall. He came to the control room and called into the doorway, "Little prince, where are you?"

The young voice answered from the far side, by the desks against the windows. "I'm right here. Can't you see?"

Kent sighed as he walked over. This small questioned pulled at his heart. The prince was innocent and true, he must come from a star…

"Little prince, I can't see. I've never been able to."

"But you go about just like any other grown up."

"For the most part," Kent replied. "There are different ways to do the same things. Here-" he picked a book off of his desk, and then sat down beside the little prince. Between the cardboard covers were hundreds of pages with not a trace of ink, but small round dots were raised in distinct designs all over the sheets.

"This is how I read." He ran his fingertips over a row of miniscule hemispheres. "Marks in certain patterns make up certain letters. All together, they say the exact same thing as printed text."

The little prince's arm reached over Kent's, as he placed his own small hand in the book, gently feeling the Braille. With his index finger he went slowly over one line. "What is this book about?" he asked.

"This one is about the mass and luminosity of stars," said Kent, turning a page. "How big and bright they can be, or how small and dim." He flipped to an insert of thicker paper, with a large embellished chart. "This chart compares the different temperature and brightness of stars. Here's our sun." He pointed to a mark about halfway down the chart, to the right of the center.

The little prince slid his hand under Kent's, to touch the sun. It was one bump next to a number of others in a crowded diagonal across the diagram. A few were sparsely scattered near the bottom left, and top right.

"The last time I was here," the prince spoke, "the fox told me the essential is invisible to the eye, that one sees clearly with the heart. I understood then that the stars were beautiful because upon one my rose grew. The desert was beautiful because it hid somewhere a well. But these were all things I still had seen. Your eyes have always been blind. What then is essential?"

Kent paid every attention to this question, and admired it. He replied, "The essential is what one believes in, what one trusts in." After a moment, he continued, "For me, as a scientist, the essential is the kind of thing that doesn't need any proof. Your fox is right- the essential can't be seen, but it also can't be heard, touched, smelled, or tasted."

The little prince sat back from the Braille book, his shoulder upon Kent's arm. "My rose perfumed all of my planet," he recalled, "But even if she had not, I love her the same."

"Love is something you cannot measure."

"It is essential."

A set of footsteps sounded, and Ellie passed through the doorway. She paused upon finding the little prince and Kent, then tread lightly over to them. "Hi you two," she greeted.

"Hey Ellie." Kent turned his head toward her, returning the smile he heard in her voice. "The little prince was just telling me more about his fox."

"Ah," Ellie nodded. Then an idea came to her- "Kiddo, do you know what kind of fox you met? From that we might be able to figure out the last place you had been on Earth."

The little prince pursed his lips. "I have only met one fox. He was the color of the sand, and his ears were long and pointed. Though not too long- my aviator drew a picture of him, with his ears longer than they were in fact." He laughed at this recollection.

"We can look them up on the computer," Ellie offered. "I'm sure we can find out where you and your fox were."

"Well let us do that then!"

If the little prince was unfamiliar with any of the technology, he was unperturbed by it. He climbed up onto a chair in front of a console. Ellie leaned over him and typed in commands, bringing up a search engine. Then they were scrolling through pages concerning various fox species.

The little prince marveled at all the foxes, of different sizes and color, living among trees, snow, and sand, when suddenly he shouted, "There!" He pointed to a picture of a golden-furred animal with small black eyes, a pointed nose, and large, upright ears. "That is my fox!"

"The fennec fox," Ellie read the page, "Is found in the Sahara desert, in Africa."

"Yes, Africa! The snake told me that name when I first arrived; I had forgotten it. That is where I met my aviator, and where I mean to go to find him again."

Ellie recovered an atlas, which she spread over a table. She placed one finger on the state of New Mexico- "We are here" -and a second on the wide continent of Africa, under the equator- "and this is the Sahara." Her hands were placed halfway across the map from each other. Ellie looked over her glasses at the little prince, who surveyed the land portrait.

Instead of being daunted, the little prince was encouraged. He traced a direct path between the two points and nodded to himself.

"That's incredibly far, kiddo."

"Not as far as I have already come," he rejoined, setting his jaw.

Ellie pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and shrugged. The prince would not be hindered by her doubt. "Look," he said, turning to the window. "A sunset. Let us watch it."

The prince made his way to the door and stepped outside to face the west, and the sun setting behind the mountains. Closing his eyes, the wind stirred his golden hair and he imagined the rolling dunes of the Sahara. The door opened again, and Kent followed Ellie out, calling Calcan along. The dog bounded out to the open desert, his tail wagging.

Ellie approached the little prince, as he stared at the dusk landscape. She reached out to put her hand on his shoulder. He reached up to grasp her fingers as they stood.

Kent sat down on the ground, his back against the cinderblock wall of the building and legs stretched out in front of him. He listened to the quiet of the desert, and felt the cool of the rock, and the heat of the low sunlight upon his face.

The coarse soil crunched under Ellie and the little prince's small feet when they came to sit down on either side of Kent. After running a lap around an arm the array, Calcan trotted back to the trio, curling up beside the prince. A silence was shared until the top of the blazing disc peaked just over the Tularosa Mountains.

"You have never seen a sunset?" the prince asked quietly, idly petting the god.

"No, I haven't," Kent replied. "But I can feel it, sitting here. As it's getting cooler out, the animals that hide during the day start to come out-- the bugs, and the birds. Howling wolves too, once in a while. And maybe- even if it's just pretending- I can feel the earth turning. Just a little bit." He smiled to himself.

Ellie spoke up, as her head rested on Kent's shoulder. "When I was ten, I had laid on the ground to look at the sky one night. There were more stars out than I had ever seen before. I watched them rise and set, and I thought of how fast the Earth must be spinning. I knew I could feel the spin then, in the pit of my stomach." She laughed. "And then I was afraid I would fall up into the sky! I actually shouted and grabbed onto the grass."

"I once watched forty-four sunsets in a row once," the little prince admitted, stifling a yawn. "When I return to my planet, I will lay down to hear and feel the sunset."

Then the three of them sat together while the sky darkened and was filled with stars. They were lucky and heard a chorus of gray wolves as a crescent moon hung above the horizon. The temperature had dropped so the air was cool on their skin. Hearts and lungs added their steady sounds to the nature. Kent rested his head back against the brick, and heard the little prince draw in slow and deep breaths in slumber.

"Elle," Kent whispered into her flaxen hair.

She stirred from her dozing, and hummed without opening her eyes.

"He's fallen asleep."

Ellie lifted her head and looked upon the child, his head resting on Kent's chest, with the man's arm around him. All their faces were lit up and pale by the moon. She smiled and made to stand, gathering the boy in her arms. "Let's get him to a bed." Holding him, Ellie was surprised how light he was- she was reminded of a Christmas ornament.

The astronomers, their dog following, strolled to the residential outbuildings, and Kent opened his door, and switched on the seldom-used light. He turned down the bed, where Ellie laid the little prince. She took off his small green shoes and his orange scarf, which she draped over the end table, next to which Calcan laid upon his own bed. The prince stirred once to roll onto his side when Ellie pulled the cover up to his shoulder, but remained asleep.

"I'll stay with you two tonight," she whispered, and upon her insistence, they all shared the bed. Three pairs of shoes in total were piled at the door, and the sparkling sand from the desert clung still to them as they fit snugly together under the quilt.

8

When Ellie woke the next day, with the morning sunlight reaching over from between the window blinds to her eyelids, she found that the little prince was not at her side. Sitting up, she looked about the room, and then saw the front door was open. A yawn escaped her as she rose. She looked over to Kent, who was still sound asleep, though lying very near the edge of the mattress. Idly smiling, Ellie ambled over to the entryway.

In plain sight but a ways away was the little prince, in his vibrant green attire against the stark landscape. And next to him, standing on its talons was a golden eagle, its great curved head turned to the child attentively. The prince was talking to him, and Ellie laughed in disbelief. She even rubbed her eyes and squinted to look again.

The little prince's voice didn't carry to Ellie's ears, but his mouth and hands moved in the conversation. The bird would nod occasionally, and stretch a wing, shuffle a foot. Ellie stepped back into the room and crawled across the bed to Kent.

"Kent," she called softly. Ellie shook the man's shoulder, "Kent."

He raised his head off the pillow, his eyelids fluttering. "Elle? What is it?"

"The kid," she said, going back to the door. "He's outside, and he's-" she laughed again. "He's talking to an eagle. It's standing right by him!"

Kent disentangled him from the covers and walked over to Ellie. She hooked her arm around his. "He's talking to an eagle?" he leaned closer to her.

"Yes! And it looks just like it's listening! A golden eagle," she whispered in awe. "What a beautiful bird…"

When the little prince saw that his astronomers had finally woken up, he and the eagle shared a few more words, then one walked back to the building while the other took flight.

"Good morning!" the child said as he approached. "I have met with an eagle, who says that he and his mate can help me get to Africa. They are hunting first, but before the next sunset I will fly away too."

"You're leaving?" said Kent.

"Yes. One must always have to go, and I must go find my aviator."

Ellie stepped forward and kneeled on the ground. She took the little prince's hands. "But kiddo, you don't even know where the aviator will be. His plane had crashed in the Sahara, you don't know where he lives."

The little prince raised his head, and set his shoulders back. "I will search. Perhaps I will look for the snake again. He knew how to solve many riddles, maybe this one he can solve too."

9

The little prince, Ellie, and Kent returned to control once again as the morning progressed. While the astronomers settled in at their consoles, the prince alternated from looking over their shoulders to paging through the atlases and encyclopedias, spread all across a table.

All the questions he asked Ellie gladly answered. Extra-terrestrial or not, she could see a bit of herself in the little prince, with his demonstrations of undaunted curiosity. She watched the same kind of fascination pass over his face when he listened to the interstellar static, and the rhythm of a pulsar.

Their research was interrupted when a telephone sounded from an adjacent room.

"That's my office," Ellie said. "It's probably the California institute." She put a hand on the prince's shoulder as she got up. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Is it a matter of consequence?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so. Keep listening!" she winked, then hurried down the hall.

The little prince held the large headphones over his ears, sitting up straight and still. He looked over to Kent, who was trailing his fingers over his data charts, and dialing through corresponding recordings. The prince closed his eyes to listen closer, and turned the volume up, down, and back up again. He blinked and pulled the headphones off, placing them on the table. And at that moment, through an open window, he heard the caw of a bird, soaring on the warm afternoon air.

"Not only does one see best with the heart, but one hears better without the eyes as well," the little prince announced as he got down from his chair. He walked over to Kent and put a hand on the man's arm. "I am leaving now," he said.

"Are those your eagles outside?" Kent turned to the little prince.

"Yes, they are waiting for me."

Kent cleared his throat, to free the words caught on sadness. "Do you have your scarf? It could get cold, flying so high and so far."

"I do," he replied, adjusting the golden muffler he always wore. Then he put his arms around Kent's neck. "I will miss you."

Kent hugged the small traveler tightly back. He could feel his heart beat, steady and sure as was his voyage. "I'll miss you too," he whispered. "Please take the map with you, little prince."

"Thank you." The prince stepped back. There was a shuffling of paper as the map was folded up and fit into a pocket. He then knelt to pet Calcan, who pressed his nose to the child's cheek once more.

"Will you wait for Ellie?" Kent got to his feet.

"You don't need to follow me out," the little prince said, already at the doorway. "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

And then his footsteps were in the hall, down the stairs. Kent was still for a moment, amazed, before he hurried to Ellie's office. With one hand on the wall he ran down the corridor. He laughed to himself, realizing how much the little prince reminded him of Ellie, so staunchly independent and determined were they.

10

Upon hearing Kent's breathless exclamation, as well as seeing the tears rimming his eyes, Ellie cut off the phone conversation and raced from her desk. She paused outside the doors of the facility to catch sight of the little prince. She had to look up, for a pair of eagles was already bearing him away.

Ellie ran across the plain, her eyes fixed on the airborne birds and person. The little prince looked down to see the astronomer, and he freed his hand from the hold of one eagle to wave. "Goodbye!"

His crystalline voice carried down to her, and Ellie halted. She raised her arm and waved back, watching wide-eyed as his shape grew smaller as he flew higher, into the dawn's early light. "Goodbye!" she shouted. Then she realized that tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she brushed the back of her hand under her eyes.

"He was…" she whispered. "He really-- Oh Kent, he really was a little prince."

Ellie jumped up and waved once more. "Goodbye! Goodbye little prince!" Then she laughed, and turned on her heel to run back to the building where Kent was waiting.

There they put their arms around each other, and Ellie told him that now they would have the stars as no one else had them. For somewhere in the galaxy, there was a little planet that a small person with golden hair, green eyes, and a pure heart called home.

Later on, Ellie would look up to the eastern sky at night, where she had last seen the prince soaring away, and would wonder if he had found the aviator. She would ask herself: Was it yes or no? It seemed everything would change with the answer.

And Kent would listen to the stars through the telescopes and headphones, with the hope to hear just once, the bright laughter of the little prince ringing through the static.

* * *

Further author's notes: Calcan is named after the dog my dad had in his youth; the chart that is in Kent's book is the Hertzprung-Russel Diagram; Ellie's story about falling up into the sky is directly from Sagan's novel.


End file.
